


falling in love at a coffee shop

by antoniohiggins



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Coffee Shops, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, aka my favorite headcannon, albert has no idea how to go on a date, and by that I mean it’s because of race, and it’s based off of my friend’s experiences so all of that is real, but It’s ok, dancer!race, just get ready for fluff, race comes to the rescue, rated teen just for language, they talk about tinder, this is so fluffy I can’t believe it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 21:28:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14246127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antoniohiggins/pseuds/antoniohiggins
Summary: ok here’s my first purely ralbert fic and it’s so fluffy goddamnjust read the tags, that pretty much sums it up. also I’m high-key projecting onto race with the eyebrow thing, just go with it.





	falling in love at a coffee shop

**Author's Note:**

> title from the song falling in love at a coffee shop by landon pigg

He should’ve seen this coming. He should’ve known he’d never be able to meet a legitimate date online, but hey, if real life didn’t work for him then it was worth a shot.

He had spent years throughout high school and college dating guys who just wanted one night stands or just wanted to cheat on their female partners, but none that really wanted _him_. He was a reserved guy, he didn’t like the party scene and would much rather spend his nights in his apartment watching conspiracy theory videos on youtube than at some bar with a bunch of drunk barely-adults.

Still, he took his roommate’s advice and got matched with some guy online. They talked for a little while and arranged to meet for lunch at a little cafe near his apartment, but it had been over half an hour and the guy was nowhere to be found.

So Albert nursed an iced coffee as he waited, trying to hold out as long as he could before he went across the street for something a little stronger.

Race was having a shitty week. He sprained is ankle right before his dance midterm and lasted thirty seconds into the song before he fell and could barely get himself off the ground. He was fairly certain he had tanked his entire career, albeit he was prone to dramatics, but he really needed a drink right about then. Not alcohol, he stopped all that after a few too many drunken high school mistakes, but he was perfectly happy getting drunk on overly-caffeinated coffee drinks. Honestly, he just wanted anything to make him feel less like shit.

And that was how Albert DaSilva and Racetrack Higgins both ended up in the right place at the right time for everything to fall into place in the most ridiculous way possible.

Race was feeling particularly petty and had no intention of ever speaking to anyone, but as he hobbled through the door on his borrowed set of crutches, he saw someone he couldn’t help but feel drawn towards.

Yes, it was cheesy, yes, he would never have thought he’d be doing it, but one look at the kid and Race knew that some idiot who clearly didn’t have eyes had stood him up.

He was dressed nicely, a button up shirt with some cuffed blue jeans stood out with his fiery red hair that was falling slightly out of it’s styled form and down over his eyes. Classic first date attire. His lips were turned downward into a small frown, his eyes staring down into his drink as if he were sitting there watching the ice cubes melt.

Still, as Race took one look at himself in his over-worn joggers and boxy t-shirt with his friend’s old pair of underarm crutches and a massive wrap around his ankle, he almost didn’t do it.

He was milliseconds away from turning on his heel and never speaking to the cute boy at the end of the bar, but he saw him look up and he saw the look on that boy’s face when he caught Race staring at him and he knew he couldn’t turn back now.

Race hobbled himself over to the end of the bar and propped himself up onto the barstool beside the boy, a nervous heat rushing to his cheeks.

“Hi, sorry I’m late. I had a little bit of an issue down at the studio, I hope you didn’t have to wait long,” he rambled, chuckling awkwardly and hoping the boy would catch on. The other just stared at him, his lips slightly parted.

“The name’s Antonio, but my friends call me Race,” he continued, jutting out his hand as he spoke softly.

Albert was still slightly confused as he met the boy’s hand, shaking it and letting his face fall briefly as he let go.

“Sorry if this is weird, I just figured I’d try to save you from whatever asshole decided not to show up,” Race started. “But if this makes you uncomfortable, I’ll go. I just couldn’t believe someone would pass up a date with a guy like you.”

Race nudged the boy’s shoulder, earning a light chuckle.

“I’m Albert and, if you really don’t mind, I think I’d like to get to know you better,” he smiled as he spoke, slipping the straw from his drink into his mouth and wiggling his eyebrows at the other. “So, do you make a habit out of valiantly rescuing damsels in distress, or am I your first?”

Race laughed lightly, shaking his head slightly as they settled into casual conversation.

“Nah, I guess I made an exception for you,” he smirked.

“Ahh, I see, so that,” Albert said, gesturing to Race’s bandaged ankle and crutches. “Probably wasn’t earned as heroically as I initially thought, now was it?”

Race ran his hands through his hair, blushing slightly as he smiled.

“Unless you call hopeless dance students heroic, then that would be a ‘no’.”

Albert scoffed, once again making Race’s heart skip about seven beats with a single breath.

“Well that depends, were you gracefully lifting some super hot chick?”

Race rolled his eyes, his cheeks only darkening.

“Less chicks, I personally prefer dicks,” he spoke as casually as he could. He was more than pleased with himself as Albert immediately choked on his drink and burst out laughing. “But no, it was much more embarrassing than that, if you must know.”

Once Albert composed himself, he couldn’t seem to shake he smile off of his face.

“Yeah, I figured considering you started this conversation by pretending to be in a date with me,” Albert sneered, shrugging on a denim jacket that had been draped over the back of his barstool and pointing out a small pin of a rainbow flag. “But same.”

Race sipped his drink slowly, attempting to raise an eyebrow, only eliciting a snort from Albert, who immediately flushed in embarrassment.

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing, it’s just...,” Albert wheezed, enjoying Race’s obliviousness. “You can’t raise your eyebrows independently, you just look confused.”

Race scoffed, leaning his elbow onto the bar as he continued on his drink.

“No, it’s cute, I swear! I just thought it was funny that you didn’t know you couldn’t!” Albert rambled, reaching out to take Race’s free hand that was passive-aggressively picking at a hole in the knee of his joggers. The other froze for a moment, but quickly interlocked their fingers tightly. “Besides, you can just blame your parents for your faulty eyebrow genes.”

That was enough to get a smile out of him as Race kept his gaze on their hands.

“Can we...do this again sometime?” Race’s nearly-inaudible request made Albert’s breath hitch as he subconsciously began to squeeze the other’s hand tighter and tighter.

He nodded once, gulping nervously before letting out an awkward laugh and looking up from his hands.

“Y-yes! I mean, yeah, I just-yes. I would… _love_ that,” Albert breathed shakily, eternally grateful that Race only seemed to smile wider at his embarrassing reaction.

“Perfect. So it’s a date,” Race smirked, crossing his legs and leaning his elbow on his knee.

“I guess it is,” the other mused, still slightly in shock that this was actually happening. “I thought this kind a’ thing only happened in movies, to be honest.”

Race smiled at that, blushing slightly as he looked around the slightly crowded cafe.

“Yeah, you think the whole ‘seeing a stranger in a crowded room’ thing is bullshit, but it turns out there’s a reason it works,” Race spoke softly as if he was...embarrassed? No, Racetrack Higgins didn’t get embarrassed. Shy, maybe? No, they were way past that by now. Wait...shit.

Racetrack Higgins had goddamn _feelings_ for this kid and he had no clue what to do about it.

“But if you’re looking for a cliché chick-flick boyfriend, I don’t think I’d really fit the bill. I have...no idea what I’m doing. In all honesty, I half expected you to slap me the moment I sat down, so this has definitely escalated much further than I expected,” he continued, not wanting to meet Albert’s eyes.

“Race, I’ve never had a legitimate boyfriend in my life and the only reason I’m here is because my roommate made me sign up for Tinder and look how that turned out,” Albert countered, getting a little laugh out of the other. He had never found someone so easy to talk to in his life.

Race seemed to exhale a little, relaxing back into his barstool as he allowed the giddiness to return to his face.

“Damn, your roommate sent you to Tinder for a date? As someone widely familiar with the Tinder dating pool, unless you’re looking to help someone cheat on their partner, to find a forty-year-old man pretending to be twenty-five, or meet someone who’s literally never romantically interacted with another human being ever, then you won’t find what you’re looking for. Trust me, I’ve been on dates with all three, not to mention the ones that aren’t even dates at all, like the college frat boys that think pretending to go out with gay guys just to beat them up is funny. And there’s the horny middle-aged woman pretending to be a guy online who immediately claims ‘gay boys are hotter’ as means to justify her lies. Seriously, if you can think of a way a date could go wrong, Tinder makes it a million times worse,” Race joked, Albert laughing wildly whilst also being completely shell-shocked by the types of people Race had met through what he had assumed was a completely harmless app.

“So,” he started. “Looks like I need a new roommate.”

Race laughed wholeheartedly, making Albert’s heart flutter and skip a few cliché beats. His smile was gorgeous. The way his eyes crinkled at the corners and his cheeks swelled with a light pink glow was enchanting and he couldn’t help but feel like maybe this guy who strode in here with a messed up ankle and a whole lot of courage could actually mean something to him.

“Al, I think this here is the start of something good, wouldn’t you say?” Race spoke in a posh voice, raising his glass to the other’s.

“Why, yes I would have to agree,” Albert finished, class clinking their empty glasses as the two stood. He went to grab his wallet, but as he looked up, Race was already signing the check with the waitress. “Wait, no you don’t have to do that! Come on, this was technically my date, let me treat you.”

Race chuckled, tucking his own wallet back into his pocket as he slung an arm around Albert’s shoulders. “Nah, just call that a ‘thank you’ for the best date I’ve ever been on.”

Albert felt the blush creeping up his neck as he timidly slid his own arm around Race’s waist, following the boy outside.

“Hmm, well I still think you deserve some thanks for rescuing me from what was almost the _worst_ date I’ve ever been on,” he countered as the two stopped at the street corner.

“Touché,” Race grinned, reluctantly detaching himself from Albert, but only to pull out his phone and hand it over to the other. “How about you thank me by going out with me again? Friday night, I’ll come pick you up.”

Albert couldn’t keep the grin off his face.

“Sounds perfect. I’ll see you then,” he spoke, practically overflowing with happiness as he inputted his contact onto the boy’s phone.

Race sent Albert a quick message so he could have the boy’s number as well, but he took one glance at the time and realized he was really cutting it close.

“Shit! I have work in half an hour,” he grumbled, a large part of him wanting to just blow off work and inevitably get fired just so he wouldn’t have to leave. “I’ll call you, I promise!”

Albert finally let his face fall as Race frantically turned to leave but he took a chance and caught the boy’s wrist. Race spun around, his blonde curls flopping across his face as he did so.

“Wait! I just...I had a really nice time today,” he mumbled as Race’s confused look slowly turned into a shy smile. It took everything Albert had not to scream as the boy leaned in and kissed his cheek gently, leaving a burning sensation in its place.

“I’ll see you Friday, Albie,” Race spoke one last time before turning down the sidewalk, leaving Albert shell-shocked and shaking with an ear-to-ear smile.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you all for reading! like always, kudos and comments make my day so thank you in advance to everyone for your nice comments:)
> 
> check me out on tumblr @tony-higgins for more writing and to send me prompts!


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